It has been estimated that approximately a half million patients acquire urinary-tract infection in acute-care hospitals in this country every year. The use of the urinary catheter has been cited as the major cause for such infections, the most numerous of all nosocomial infections. This trend of steady or even increasing urinary tract nosocomial is not expected to change because of an aging population, requiring regimes of lengthy catheterization, and because of the incidence of antibiotic- resistant bacteria. The type of synthetic plastic in contact with the urinary tract, including the bladder surface, effects the incidence of infection upon catheterization. Silastic (i.e. silicone) catheters, or silastic-coated catheters, are superior to rubber (latex), polyvinyl chloride (PVC)1 or Teflon. The Contractor proposes to evaluate a proven highly biocompatible, low cost polymer family (BIOBLAND (R)) as a coating for latex and PVC catheters with a goal of decreasing the incidence of encrustation and infection, thus offering an improved product at lower cost than the silicone-base devices.